This invention relates primarily to an apparatus and method for securing an article to a container and, more particularly, to such an apparatus and method wherein a support mechanism, such as a mandrel or anvil, is not required.
Heretofore, articles, such as pour spout fitments, have been secured to thermoplastic-coated container panels by the following methods,
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,578, the following method is employed: A mandrel is inserted into the interior of the still-open mouth of the container, with the mandrel abutting the interior surface of a barrier layer and forming a back-up support. Hot air or radiant heat is applied to the external surface of a gable top wall immediately around an opening to thereby soften the polyethylene coating, with a pour spout fitment flange placed on the softened layer to thereby adhere the flange to the wall. An external mandrel is also employed to press the assembly against the internally positioned mandrel. This pressure is maintained until the coating cools and thereby effects permanent adhesion of the flange to the wall. Other methods, such as ultrasonic adhesion and impulse heating, may be employed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,695 merely recites that attachment to the polymer-coated paperboard panel is accomplished by welding or otherwise adhering a spout fitment flange to the polymer coating.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,964,562 and 5,152,438 each utilize an ultrasonic sealing horn and a back-up support mandrel operative around respective pouring apertures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,015 discloses the use of an ultrasonic horn to bond a flange of a pour spout fitment to an inner or back surface of a container panel around a pouring aperture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,640 suggests fusing a pour spout flange to an inside surface of a carton gable top either thermally or ultrasonically.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,643 states that the pour spout fitment is preferably adhered to the outer surface of the container panel by impulse heating under pressure such as ultrasonic sealing although other methods may be used as desired.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,925,034 discloses adhesively bonding a pour spout fitment by a hot melt glue to a top outer surface of a container.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,999 suggests that a spout or closure be xe2x80x9cattached to the package top by any suitable means such as an adhesive applied to a bottom surface of the closure to be attached to the package topxe2x80x9d. Where the package is coated with an outer thermoplastic layer of polyethylene, which discourages such adhesion, perimeter cuts may be made which may be serrated or applied as perforated cuts. Such serrations or perforated cuts need only penetrate the polyethylene outer layer to allow the adhesive to bond with the underlying carrier or paper layer.
WO-A-88/05012 discloses a container having an upper rim portion onto which a laminated cover is bonded. The adjacent surface of the cover is heated to above its melting point, in order to bond to the rim portion.
WO-A-96/39332 of the present assignee discloses a pouring spout attachment applied to a pourable-product-carrying container over a location where the container has one of a partial depth cut and an opening formed therein. The attachment includes a body and may have a removable cap mounted thereon. The body includes an internal projection, an external mounting flange, and an internal end wall having a web segment cut therein so as to be movable as a flap about a pivot axis.
WO-A-92/14604 discloses a method and apparatus for attaching a spout to an open-top, bottom-sealed carton. A conveyor moves the carton successively to three stations. At the first station, a hole punch punches a hole. At the second station, a glue applicator applies adhesive to the bonding site. At the third station, a spout attaching assembly applies a spout to the prepared site. The carton is subsequently filled and top-sealed. The glue applicator includes a horizontal gun which is rotated in a circle in a vertical plane to form a complete circle of bonding agent on the vertical external surface of the carton around the hole, ready to receive an annular flange of the fitment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,857 discloses a fitment application apparatus, for applying plastic spout fitments to filled and sealed cartons, integrated in line with a conventional form/fill/seal production line. The apparatus advances formed, filled and sealed cartons to a fitment application station. For this purpose, the cartons are carried from the end of the form/fill/seal production line by a continuous line conveyor terminating at a dead plate between a pair of continuous line conveyors; an escapement allows the pair of conveyors to advance cartons one-by-one to an indexing flight conveyor extending through the fitment application station and advancing the cartons to a continuous delivery conveyor. A hopper and associated gravity-feed track supply a series of fitments to a fitment applicator anvil at the application station. Each fitment has a flange the bottom surface of which is coated with hot melt adhesive as the fitment slides past a hot melt adhesive applicator roll. A fitment retaining mechanism receives and positions each fitment such that the flange bottom surface coated with hot melt adhesive faces an external side of the wall of the filled carton. The fitment applicator anvil intermittently carries fitments from the fitment retaining mechanism into abutting relationship with the filled carton in registration with the spout hole, thereby pressing the flange bottom surface coated with hot melt adhesive against the extrusion layer on the external side of the carton wall, whereby the fitment is bonded to the filled and sealed carton. WO-A-97/04953 discloses a similar system, except for integration in line with a form-fill-seal machine.
WO-A-97/16302 discloses a method for securing a pour spout fitment to a thermoplastic-coated container, wherein filled and sealed gable-top cartons are diverted onto an indexing turret where each of a plurality of nodding receivers rotating with the turret receives a pour spout fitment, presents the fitment to a source of heat to render tacky the bottom surface of a flange of the fitment, and places the fitment onto an already heated portion of a roof panel of a carton around an opening or loop of weakness therein, thereby to bond together the fitment and the panel. The receivers are continously cooled to promote the bonding. In practice, a section of a flat top conveyor extending from a form-fill-seal machine to a casing machine would be altered to adapt it to the fitment-attaching machine.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising manufacturing a first package by forming a first container, filling the container with contents, sealing the filled container and then advancing the first container by conveying means, characterized by subsequently installing attaching means at said conveying means without altering said conveying means and manufacturing a second package by forming a second container, filling the second container with contents, sealing the filled second container, advancing the second container by said conveying means, and operating said attaching means to attach an article to an external surface of the filled and sealed second container.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for manufacturing a package, comprising forming means for forming a container, filling means after said forming means for filling said container with contents, sealing means after said filling means for sealing the filled container, article attaching means after said sealing means for attaching said article to an external surface of the filled and sealed container, and conveying means extending past, in turn, said forming means, said filling means, said sealing means and said attaching means for advancing said container past, in turn, said forming means, said filling means, said sealing means and said attaching means, characterized in that said attaching means was installed at said conveying means without said conveying means having been altered.
Owing to these aspects of the invention, it is possible to provide an article-attaching station downstream of a sealing station of a form-fill-seal machine without altering the existing conveyor (s). Thus, provision of the station does not involve extra work and cost in adapting the existing conveyor (s) nor does subsequent removal of the station involve extra work and cost in restoring the existing conveyor (s) if and when attaching of articles is no longer required.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a package, comprising forming a container, filling the container with contents, top-sealing the filled container, and attaching an annular portion of a pour spout fitment by way of adhesive to an upwardly facing, external surface of the filled and sealed container, characterized in that said attaching comprises applying said adhesive to said external surface of the filled and sealed container to provide a bead in the form of a closed loop of adhesive, and applying said annular portion to said bead, which is of a form corresponding to that of said annular portion.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for use in manufacturing a package, comprising conveying means, forming means adjacent said conveying means for forming a container on said conveying means, filling means adjacent said conveying means for filling the formed container, top-sealing means adjacent said conveying means for sealing the top of the filled container, and fitment-attaching means adjacent said conveying means for attaching a pour spout fitment to an upwardly facing external surface of the filled and sealed container, characterized in that said fitment-attaching means comprises adhesive-applying means for applying a jet of adhesive to said external surface of the filled and sealed container, jet-displacing means arranged to displace said jet relative to said external surface to provide on said external surface an adhesive bead in the form of a closed loop of said adhesive, and applying means for applying a portion of a fitment to said bead to attach said fitment to said container.
Owing to applying the annular bead of adhesive after top-sealing, the bead can be applied to such upwardly facing external surface, so that there is a lower tendency for the adhesive to run down the surface (or even flow through a pouring hole, if provided, into the interior of the container) and thus reduce the efficacy of attachment of the fitment to the container and/or thus smear conveying and other surfaces and so disrupt the operation of the system.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for securing articles to container panels, said method comprising the steps of:
a. heating to a predetermined temperature a surface of a selected panel of an erected container;
b. receiving an article from a supply source by a receiver;
c. displacing aid receiver so as to expose a selected surface of said article to a heat source to heat said surface to a predetermined temperature;
d. displacing said receiver further so as to place the heated surface of said article onto said surface of said erected container; and
e. pressing a cooled anvil against another selected surface of said article to bond said heated surface thereof to said heated surface of said erected container.
Owing to this aspect of the invention, simple and effective cooling of the heated bonding material is achieved.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided apparatus for receiving an article and placing same on a selected panel of an erected container, said apparatus comprising a pivotally mounted, fluidic, piston-and-cylinder device having a reciprocable receiver provided thereon, a first stationarily mounted, fluidic, piston-and-cylinder device having a reciprocable abutment provided thereon for pushing said article from a track into said receiver, a second stationarily mounted, fluidic, piston-and-cylinder device having a reciprocable heated tool provided thereon for heating a surface of said article upon the pivoting of said article into alignment therewith by the pivotally mounted piston-and-cylinder device, the pivotally mounted piston-and-cylinder, after further pivoting thereof, serving to place said heated surface of said article on said selected panel.
Owing to this aspect of the invention, simple and effective application of the article to the container is achieved.
Preferred embodiments of the invention each provide an improved apparatus and method for securing an article to a thermoplastic coating of a laminate, in particular securing a pour spout fitment to a thermoplastic-coated container panel. Both of the pour spout fitment and the panel may be heated, by suitable heating mechanisms, to a predetermined temperature, such that, when the fitment is applied to the panel of the container, heat from the fitment is transferred to the panel to raise the temperature of a fitment-receiving portion of the panel surface to a level capable of activating the thermoplastic coating; upon cooling, the fitment and the container surface bond together.
The preferred apparatus and method are applied downstream of all forming, filling and sealing operations performed on the container, and are capable of being installed and performed over an existing conveyor system downstream of a conventional forming, filling and sealing machine, without any alteration of that existing system being necessary.
Preferably, the apparatus is a machine mounted over a conveyor carrying filled and sealed containers, such machine including stations at which each successive container, or pair of containers, enters the machine; (a) selected top closure panel(s) is/are heated; the flange(s) of (a) pour spout fitment(s) is/are heated and placed on the selected panel(s); the flange(s) is/are pressed while cooling to become bonded; the package(s) manufactured is/are inspected; and the package(s) exit(s) the machine.
The apparatus and method are adaptable, when required, to multiple in-line indexing, wherein a feeder bowl would include multiple discharge tracks, or a multiple of feeder bowls could be used.